The Rocky Mountain Gamer loves playing Santa for poor, underprivileged gamers. Not literally -- Cheetos dust is a nightmare to get out of the red velvet suit -- but, instead, by pointing you, faithful readers, to the best gaming bargains.

This way, the gamer in your life gets something fun to play rather than another Hickory Farms beef stick, and you still have enough money left to buy yourself something nice.

Your son owns a PS3 and really wants some new games? Fortunately, you have a few amazing deals to choose from this year. Among the best is "Assassin's Creed: Ezio Trilogy" ($40; rated M). This collection includes "Assassin's Creed II," "Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood" and "Assassin's Creed: Revelations.

The story of Ezio Auditore da Firenze spans Renaissance Italy and Constantinople and includes luminaries such as Leonardo da Vinci, the Medicis and Pope Alexander VI. It's a sprawling, open-world adventure that will take him more than 100 hours to complete.

Perhaps you need a game for someone a little younger. "The Ratchet & Clank Collection" ($40; rated E 10+) features exciting gameplay for any player 10 and older.

The titular duo spend each game jumping through fantastical levels while shooting wacky guns at crazy mechanical creatures. When hit, those creatures explode in a shower of nuts and bolts you can collect and trade for new weapons.

The three games here -- "Ratchet & Clank," "Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando" and "Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal" -- are all PS2 games remastered in glorious HD and available for the first time on the PS3.

So, your nephew doesn't have a PS3, but he does have a Wii. What can you do other than feel sorry for the poor kid and his now-obsolete system?

These six games, which originally appeared on the Game Boy, NES, SNES and Nintendo 64, are presented here in their original formats.

While they might not shine as brightly as some of today's HD remakes, the games more than make up for it with their whimsical settings and hilarious gameplay. Kirby, a little pink puffball, steals his enemies' powers by swallowing them. He'll need those powers to protect Dream Land from the evil king Dedede.

On the surface, these games look as if they're for younger players, but the deep, well-designed gameplay will suck in players of all ages.

How about something for your mom, the military buff? She needs something to play when the History Channel is showing nothing but reruns.

Pick up the "Command and Conquer Ultimate Collection" ($50; rated T) and give her a chance to employ the strategy she's been studying all these years.

This PC-exclusive collection features a whopping 17 games encompassing the series' entire run, all reformatted to work with the latest versions of Windows.

Of particular note are the three "Command and Conquer: Red Alert" games and their expansion packs. Featuring superb acting and story work, these games are a high-water mark for the real time-strategy genre.

That leaves your best friend, Hilda, who owns only an Xbox 360. She's already beaten "Halo 4," and you've listened a million times to her rant about how they don't make games like they used to.

Give her "Midway Arcade Origins" ($30; rated T), a collection of more than 30 classic games that gobbled up quarters in the '80s and '90s.

This package features so many great games, Hilda will be hard-pressed to pick one to play first. "Defender," "Joust," "Spy Hunter," "Gauntlet" "Marble Madness" and "Robotron 2084" are just a few of the wickedly addictive offerings here, all harking back to a time when games were simpler and a good player could go for hours on a single coin.

Look beneath the surface of familiar games and you'll find some wonderful, hidden gems: Sports games such as "Arch Rivals" and "Tournament Cyberball 2072," the underrated fighting game "Pit-Fighter" and one of the best space shooters ever, "Sinistar."

It's an entire arcade on one tiny disc, for the low, low price of less than a dollar a game. Hilda will thank you.

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